Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.37.6

c48.s2.37.6

The sub-castes of the Paṟaiyan, which are very numerous, indicate the practice of most of the more reputable handicrafts, but the general tradition among the modern Paṟaiyan is that the caste was formerly a weaving one by calling, and in an inscription of the 11th century, probably the earliest in which the name Paṟaiyan is used, it is subdivided into the weaving and the ploughing sections. Some have derived the name from paṟai, a drum, and a section does, indeed, act as the drummers of the Right-hand. On the other hand, their great rivals, the leather-workers, blow the trumpet for the Left, without being named after their performance on that blatant instrument. In the Karnatic, the Holeya occupy almost the same position, except that they are not, of course, affiliated to any factional distribution of other castes, nor do they weave to any great extent. A good many of them have, however, joined the Liṅgāyats, in which community weavers abound, some of them holding but a low position, attributable probably to their origin amongst such classes as the Holeya, and entailing, at all events, the establishment of a special section for their reception. In the Telugu country, the place of the Paṟaiyan is taken by the Māla class, the name of which resembles that of the Mahār of the Dekkan, which performs the same offices. In the case of the latter, however, the weaving branch has split off into an entirely separate body, whereas in the east it seems to remain as a subdivision.